


when terrible days come (let my love know i'll be home)

by wartransmission



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Character Study, Established Relationship, M/M, Off-days, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-13 21:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11768832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wartransmission/pseuds/wartransmission
Summary: Yuuri still has his off-days, sometimes.





	when terrible days come (let my love know i'll be home)

 

Everything feels terrible.

He’s flubbing on his quads, his spins won’t flow the way he wants them to, and his step sequences- his _step sequences_ , of all things- don’t feel right. Viktor had only managed to borrow the rink for their use because the other Russian skaters took their break during this time, and yet Yuuri can't even use this time properly. He’s breathing too hard and the grace that he knows intimately on the ice won’t come to him, it’s all so frustrating and-

“Yuuri?”

“Nn,” he grunts, vaguely acknowledging Viktor’s voice from the rink side.

“Are you-“ Viktor stops at the tired look on Yuuri’s face, changing tracks as he says instead, “Do you want a break?”

Yuuri stops in his skating. He opens his mouth, initially to argue as he is wont to do when being stopped from practicing before perfecting anything, before closing it again as he reconsiders it. Eventually, albeit hesitantly, he says, “yes, please.”

Viktor is smiling when Yuuri looks over at him. It’s odd, how much the look on his face needles at Yuuri’s nerves. It’s not even Viktor’s fault that Yuuri can’t do anything right today.

“Here’s your water,” Viktor says when he reaches the barrier, holding out his thermos full of water. Yuuri takes it with a nod of thanks, not bothering to look up at Viktor as he sips (and consequently missing the faltering smile on Viktor’s face).

“Is something wrong?” Viktor asks, gently. It’s kind of him to be concerned, Yuuri knows. He understands that it’s to be expected, given that Viktor is his coach (and, perhaps, fiancé?).

He also knows that its unlike Viktor to be soft with him, what with his generally rough methods before Yuuri broke down in front of him at the last GPF. The notion that he’s changing his methods to accommodate him, to coddle him as if he were a particularly weak person (even though he’s not, he _knows_ he’s not), only serves to irritate him further.

He doesn’t bother to answer the question. He’s too frustrated to, and for all that he is angry, he doesn’t actually want to push Viktor away by saying the wrong thing.

“Yuuri?”

He steps out of the rink and accepts the skate guards that Viktor hands over to him. “I’m fine,” he murmurs as he puts them on, the white lie slipping out his mouth easily enough after all the times he’s had to assure other people just so they’d leave him alone.

“You don’t look like you’re fine,” Viktor insists.

“Clearly,” Yuuri bites out, angry. He looks up, sees the surprise and hurt in Viktor’s wide eyes and frowning lips, and he sorely regrets saying anything at all. “Sorry,” he says, softly, turning his gaze away once more. “I’m irritable today. It’s not…it’s not your fault.”

He lets Viktor follow him as he makes his way to a bench, the quiet a stifling thing over their shoulders as Viktor watches him take a seat. Viktor looks like he’s ready to kneel and untie Yuuri’s skates for him with the way he’s coming closer, but Yuuri stops him with a raised hand and a, “Let me do it.”

“But-"

“Do you want to help me feel better?” Yuuri asks, halting Viktor before he can cause more unintentional damage to his pride.

Eagerly, Viktor nods. “Yes, of course!”

Yuuri smiles. For all that he’s frustrated with himself and the world today, he can’t deny that he adores how much Viktor loves him in all his stubbornness.

“Then,” he says while untying his laces, hoping Viktor understands and won’t take offense, “could you let me have some time to myself, just for now?”

Viktor’s smile fades to make way for a thoughtful frown.

“I love being with you,” Yuuri assures him, setting aside his skates as he gets his shoes on. His face heats at the surprised but pleased look on Viktor’s face, but he ignores that as he says, “But I need some time alone to be okay again. It’s just…easier to process things like that, sometimes, and it's not as overwhelming for me."

There’s a moment’s pause, then Viktor says, “Okay, I understand.”

Yuuri smiles at him through the weak frustration simmering under his skin. “Thank you for understanding,” he says, perhaps a little more sincerely than he would have with another person.

Viktor smiles back, the affection so clear in his eyes that Yuuri can’t help the soft warmth from growing inside him.

“You never have to thank me for anything that you need, my Yuuri,” Viktor says, and Yuuri, if he were feeling any better, would probably ( _probably_ ) ask for a hug out of sheer fondness.

As it is, with the discomfort and impatience clawing at his bones, he can only settle for a nod and a weak smile before he goes to get himself together again.

(He’ll be okay. Things will be fine. He just needs time, needs air, needs room to breathe before his heart fails him due to overwork and impatience.)

* * *

 

Yuuri is more icicle than human being when he returns from his walk around the area of Sports Champions Club, but that doesn’t stop Viktor from giving him a look like he’s trying his hardest to _not_ look like he wants to embrace him protectively in his arms.

He is in love with a ridiculous man who embodies an actual spectrum of suaveness to dorkiness, and while being with Viktor has always been beyond his wildest dreams, it’s nice to be reminded that this dream is very real from how overwhelmingly human his coach/boyfriend/fiancé (?) is.

“I’m sort of okay now,” he says, smiling tiredly. Then he opens his arms wide, not even having to wait for a second before he’s cuddled up into Viktor’s warm chest. “Thanks for understanding, Viktor,” he murmurs, nuzzling right into the crook of Viktor’s neck and shoulder.

“I’m just glad you’re doing better, милый,” Viktor hums, perfectly content to rub his cheek against Yuuri’s temple. Then he asks, blue eyes searching when he moves to look at Yuuri, “Can I ask what happened, Yuuri?”

He breathes in, looking back at Viktor, before heaving out a sigh and resting his head on Viktor’s shoulder. “I was frustrated that I couldn’t do anything right,” he confesses, before pulling away just enough that he can look Viktor in the eye. “It wasn’t your fault. I was just…really impatient today.”

“Such an ambitious one, my Yuuri,” Viktor coos. Yuuri is glad that he’s lost his earlier frustration that he can disregard how Viktor’s words might sound patronizing, given a more negative kind of mindset. He knows better, at least, to understand that Viktor is only teasing him out of love.

“Only as ambitious as my coach,” Yuuri retorts, to which Viktor laughs.

“And that’s why we’re perfect for each other,” Viktor says, as self-assuredly as one would say a fact, all the while nuzzling his cheek into Yuuri’s hair like a cat trying to leave his scent on his beloved toy.

“You’re perfect for each other because you’re both disgusting and have no sense of shame,” snarls Yurio from the back, surprising Yuuri into a yelp with his sudden presence. Then he adds, looking annoyed at the surprised look Yuuri sends his way, “We’ve been here the entire time, you perverts!”

 _We_?

Yuuri’s face heats when he notices Mila, Georgi, and a few of the other Russian skaters unabashedly looking on from behind Yurio. He starts to feel, strangely enough, even more like a celebrity outside of his own hometown with how the Russian skaters treat him, especially in the context of his relationship with Viktor.

“To think, our Vitya who barely knew love could have a love so wholesome that he forgets the world,” Georgie muses, earning him a choked-up sound from Yuuri.

Mila smiles a Cheshire-like smile as she teases, "But isn't it more surprising, that our cool, playboy Vitya could vanish so quickly just because of Yuuri?"

“My Yuuri is very special like that,” Viktor chirps, entirely unashamed as he beams while still clinging onto Yuuri.

“Enough playing around,” Yakov snaps, saving Yuuri from further discomfort as the skaters scramble to attention at his voice.

Quickly, Georgi and other more obedient skaters (from Yuuri’s observations, anyway) go back to what they were practicing before Yuuri came back to the SCC. Mila hangs back for a while longer to smile and quietly tease them before going back on the ice, and Yurio follows last with a grumble when Yakov gives him a look.

“I’ll start with figures,” he tells Viktor, slowly prying himself away from Viktor’s touch. Viktor gives him a small, sweet smile, before stealing his hand and pressing a kiss to the ring on his finger.

“Do what you must,” Viktor says as he lets go of his hand. Then he smiles, star-bright and sharp with challenge, “But you’ll be making it up to me with a perfect quad flip tomorrow, Yuuri.”

_Not an order, but a promise._

Yuuri smiles, heart-full and relieved that Viktor knows what he needs.

“Yes!"

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I wrote this bc i too was (still kind of am) having a bad day hahhah ;;;
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please let me know in the comments what u think about it, if u like it or if there's anything to fix ❤❤
> 
> Translation note:  
> милый = darling in Russian


End file.
